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Arathi Basin strategy
See: Arathi Basin =Basic Strategy= *The only criteria to win is to accumulate 2000 resources before the other side. Kills do not count in any way towards victory, except of course in slowing your enemy's capture of nodes. *The main strategic considerations arguably are SPEED and COORDINATION. It is vital that you get to nodes quickly at the beginning, and that you work as a team to defend your captured nodes and when attacking contested/enemy nodes. *Some argue that you should stay with your group in Arathi Basin. However, this is seldom practical as you will rarely know what graveyard you will respawn to after you inevitably die. Every time you spawn, a quick decision must be made as to where you are needed at the moment, and wasting precious time trying to put your group back together is rarely feasible. Experience will tell you where to go. *Remember that the winning team gets extra bonus honor (not to mention a larger reputation boost than the losers), so your goal should be capturing and defending nodes, not hunting for Honor Kills. *Your battle map is vital! Keep your map overlay open at all times. Generally, if you go where the fewest 'dots' are on your battlemap, you will have a good chance of helping your team win. Quiet areas of the map always need attention either defensively or offensively. All friendly nodes must be guarded at all times, and all enemy nodes should be constantly checked for security lapses. =Pre-Start Activities= Once you enter Arathi Basin through the swirling red instance portal, the Battleground will begin its countdown. Alliance players will appear in the League's camp at Trollbane Hall, located in the northwest of the Basin. Horde players will appear in the southeast of the map in the Defiler's Den. During the two minutes or so prior to the start of the game, you should take care of the following things: *Summon pets, prepare items, and buff yourself. Speed buffs are especially useful right out of the gate. *'Buff everyone else' with your longer-duration buffs. Save the short-term buffs for battle situations. *Get on your mount, if you have one. Arathi Basin is the only battleground which allows you to mount up before the match starts; make good use of it. =Assaulting, Capturing, and Defending Nodes= The status of nodes in Arathi Basin is indicated by a flag, which can be in one of five states (from your point of view): *'Neutral' (all flags start in this state) *'Friendly-Contested' (under assault by your side, but not yet captured and not producing resources) *'Enemy-Contested' (under assault by the enemy, but not yet captured and not producing resources) *'Captured' (owned by your side, and producing resources for you) *'Lost' (owned by the enemy, and producing resources for them) Neutral flags are white and Contested flags have a grey symbol of the assaulting faction on them. Captured/'Lost' flags are either red (Horde) or blue (Alliance). The process of taking a Neutral or Lost flag is called "assaulting" the flag. Assaulting a flag is a simple matter: *Approach the flag and click on it (the cursor will change to the "use" or gear icon) *Remain at the flag "channeling" the capture for 10 seconds *Flag will change to Friendly-Contested (white with your faction's emblem) *After 1 minute without a successful defense (see below), the flag will change to Captured (blue or red with your faction's emblem) If a Captured flag is successfully assaulted (the enemy survives the 10-second "channeling"), the flag will change to Enemy-Contested, and one of two things can happen: *The flag can remain untouched for 1 minute, after which it will change to Lost. You must perform a full capture (10-second assault + 1-minute wait) to get the flag back. *One of your team can assault the flag (going through the 10-second "channeling"), after which the flag will immediately change back to Captured (no 1-minute wait). This is called "defending" the flag. In summary: *'Assaulting:' Neutral/Lost -> (10-second assault) -> Friendly-Contested -> (1-minute wait) -> Captured *'Defending:' Captured -> (10-second enemy assault) -> Enemy-Contested -> (10-second friendly assault within 1 minute) -> Captured =Tactics for Assaulting= Since the 10-second assault can be interrupted by damage, you either need to destroy all defending enemies or, at least, keep them off the assaulting player for 10 seconds. In general, assaulting a flag is a balance between the need to keep all enemies off the assaulting player and the need for a quick capture to cut off reinforcements from the graveyard. Here are some strategies for assaulting a flag: *'Zerging' - One of the three main battle strategies (see below), zerging is all about assaulting, and there is not much nuance to it. Shock-and-awe your foes into submission and have whomever assault the flag. If every second counts, you may wish to send the speediest of the group ahead to start the flag assault while the rest of the mob lays waste. *'Ninja' - Send an invisible/stealthed player in to assault a lightly-defended flag. Useful when the other team is zerging and leaves few defenders. *'Shielded Assault' - Send a shielded player (Priest, Warlock with Voidwalker sacrifice, etc.) to assault the flag while the rest of the group keeps the enemy at bay. *'Pull and Cap' - This tactic is similar to ninja-ing. First, a stealth class approaches the node, scouts and waits. Then a non-stealthed player (preferably a warrior or other high-def class) approaches, drawing the attention of the defenders and trying to pull them a short distance from the flag. While they are busy with the second player, the first unstealths and caps. *'Crowd Control' - Use a crowd control ability or spell against a single defender which lasts longer than 10 seconds and capture the node while they look on helpless. Examples are Sap, Entangling Roots, Freezing Trap, Fear or Mage's Polymorph. *'???' - This is a Wiki...what flag-assault strategy do you use? =Tactics for Defending= Defending a Captured flag that is under assault boils down to "damage the assaulting player". Here are some strategies and tips on this tactic: *If the assault is interrupted, a Captured flag will remain your color and producing resources at full speed. *Fight at your flag, and make enemies come to you. Don't give in to enemies who are trying to draw you away from the flag: they may be clearing the way for a stealthed assaulter. *Tell the raid if you need more defenders at your location, and how many more defenders are required (you can tell by the number of dots on map nearby you). You should never be the only defender unless the raid's strategy requires it. *Eye of Kilrogg, Eagle Eye and other abilities that let you project your vision can allow you to watch for enemies from a safe location (such as inside the mine). *Low level AOE spells can help to uncover stealthed attackers without using much mana. *Entangling Roots and DoT damage will not interrupt capture. Only instant damage spells (such as Arcane Explosion or the initial damage from Flamestrike) will interrupt the capture. *Don't hesistate to return to your corpse if the resurrection timer is too long, especially if it looks like the resource node is being overwhelmed. Although you will resurrect will about half health and half mana, you may be able to interrupt anyone trying to capture the node and possibly stall long enough for more help to arrive or for the rest of your team to resurrect. *You must follow up by killing or driving off the attacker, so call for assistance if needed as soon as you notice an attack on your flag. **This is especially important if you are alone at the flag and 3 or 4 of the opposing force are coming for the flag. You can stop the initial capture by damaging all of them but you will soon die and they will get the node. *Oil of Immolation can be used to stop the enemy from caping the flag while you run around it. Race/Class Specific Defense Tactics: *Rogues frequently stealth near the flag and then Ambush would be capturers, or Sap them to disable them for a short time. *Night Elves can shadowmeld a distance away from the flag and used a ranged attack to interrupt assaulters. *Hunters can lay freezing traps at the base of the flag to stop assaulters (works well against stealth). *Warlocks can summon and enslave an Infernal, then as your enemies approach dismiss it (grrr, it's angry now) and Banish it near the flag. If you time this properly, you will die near the same time the Infernal gets free and it will "defend" the flag while you go to the graveyard. Best when the Warlock is the sole defender, or part of a small team, as the Infernal will be an equal-opportunity squisher. =Battle Strategies= The information in this section will be old news to seasoned battleground guild members who, with training, experience, and often Ventrillo or similar voice comms software, will have mastered similar strategies and can use them to crush any pick-up game (PUG) team. However, if you are a PUG player and you can convince your teammates to use these strategies, you might just have a fighting chance. Zerging Zerging - the practice of descending upon the enemy en masse to overwhelm them through sheer numbers - is the most basic of Arathi Basin strategies. It is unsubtle, lacks flair or finesse, and requires almost no skill to perform. Perfect for PUGs! (Note: the author of this paragraph is a PUG gamer; no offense intended.) To zerg, you simply gather your entire team and move from node to node, utterly destroying anything in your path. Unless the enemy is also zerging, you are almost guaranteed to capture any node your amorphous blob of players comes across. At the same time, however, the nodes you leave behind are unprotected and can be ninja'd easily. To be fair, a reasonably well-directed zerg could be successful against another PUG team, if they are not schooled in anti-Zerg strategy. The sight of 15 frothing enemies barreling down on your position is enough to send the weak of stomach into fits of "/raid AGH!!!11 INC MY POssitION!!! HLP! HEEEELP!" If your zerg can keep the other team in disarray through sheer fear, you may have 3 nodes to their 2 just long enough to get the win. (Note: the author of this section hasn't researched much zerg strategy; zerg experts please add your thoughts.) Five-Five-Five (4-node option) The "5-5-5" refers to the arrangement of the raid group into three groups of five players. This grouping is very common in Arathi Basin, as it makes good use of the 5-player limit on groups, and provides for flexible positioning of fairly powerful groups of players. The "4-node option" works basically as follows: *Group 1 runs straight to the Gold Mine, captures and defends it. *Group 2 runs straight to the Lumber Mill, captures and defends it. *Group 3 runs straight to the Blacksmith, captures and defends it. One person on Group 3 takes the Farm/Stables on the way. As mentioned before, SPEED and COORDINATION are keys here, as is STAYING IN YOUR ASSIGNED PLACE. For PUGs this is difficult because not everyone will have read this (or any other) basic strategy guide, and will want to go off hunting Honor Kills. Defending a captured flag can be boring, but remember that the winning team gets bonus honor, plus extra reputation that the losers don't get. Try to impress upon your groupmates that staying put and keeping 3 (or 4) nodes is more important than "Pwn1ng" someone on the other side. Keep your chat on /party most of the time, to coordinate with your group. Use /raid to communicate to the other groups from time to time about your status, or to call for backup in case of an enemy zerg or mini-zerg. May you have a strong PUG raid leader to help keep the troops in line. Maybe that will be you? Five-Five-Five (3-node option) The "3-node option" works almost the same as the 4-node option, except that it concentrates on...uh...3 nodes instead of 4. The strategy works like this: *Group 1 runs straight to the Gold Mine or Lumber Mill, captures and defends it. *Group 2 runs straight to the Blacksmith, captures and defends it. *Group 3 runs straight to the Farm/Stables, captures and defends it. This strategy treats the Farm/Stables nodes with a bit more respect, as nobody likes to find that the enemy has back-doored him. It also keeps your forces in somewhat closer proximity, which enhances flexibility since forces can be repositioned more quickly. However, the strategy only sets out to gain a 3/2 advantage, which can result in a long slog through a battle that is nearly tied much of the time. Since the rate of resource accumulation increases non-linearly as you gain nodes (see below), the 4-node option of the 5-5-5 strategy has benefits beyond "just one more node". A possible blend of the two options could be successful. Start with the 4-node assault, hold it as long as you can to rack up resources at a 4/1 advantage, then fall back to a 3-node defense. As the enemy assaults your 3 nodes, the time you spend at a 2/3 disadvantage will be offset by the extra resources you gained during that initial 4/1 advantage. Seven/Seven And The Fat Kid This strategy is similar to the 3-node option in that it only gains 3 nodes initially, and it is also similar to the 4-node option in that it doesn't defend the Farm/Stables. Sounds like crap, right? Well, it blends in a mini-zerg element that makes it interesting. The basic strategy: *Group 1 (7 players) heads to the Blacksmith *Group 2 (7 players) heads to the Gold Mine or Lumber Mill *The Fat Kid takes the Farm/Stables Obviously, each group will not fit into a "party" within a raid group, so either there needs to be two raid groups set up, or a combination of parties within a raid group to make up each group-of-7. The Fat Kid can be put into whatever group wants him. The author has never participated in nor seen this strategy in action, so cannot comment much on its effectiveness. However, the benefit to the 7/7 strategy is that each group is a mini-zerg with respect to enemies using one of the 5-5-5 strategies. Your 7-player groups should be able to defeat any 5-player enemy groups, and comfortably hold any node against anything short of a zerg. The Fat Kid, after taking the Farm/Stables could be used as a lookout to direct the mini-zergs against the enemy, or he could join one of the groups. Six-Six and the Floating 3 This is a variant on the Seven/Seven and Fat Kid strategy. This author has definitely seen it work extremely well against "3-Zone" (or 5-5-5). Groups are broken down into a 2x6+3 formation: two groups of 6 zerg the nodes that are being held by the 5-man teams, and hold them. The +3 group floats around, stealth capping the weaker nodes. This technique relies on having even more speed and coordination than the 5-5-5 does, since it is even more fluid as there are two 6 man groups need to float between three nodes. Five-Five-Five (Floating nodes option) Similar to Five-Five-Five, but with more fluidity: *Group 1 takes and holds Farm, and provides backup to the Blacksmith. *Group 2 takes and holds the Lumber Mill, and provides backup to the Blacksmith. *Group 3 takes and holds the Mines, and then sends a harrassment/stealth subgroup out to the Stables. This technique requires some of the most precision and communication as all of them, since the two rearguard groups are constantly in motion. In this strategy, it is less necessary to hold the Blacksmith since the floating groups are sufficient to keep the enemy trapped in the Blacksmith if necessary. The advantage of this technique is that on weaker and less coordinated enemies, it can be much faster as it affords a 5 node win. =Accumulating Resources= Resources accumulate at the rates shown in the table below. Nodes Captured Resources Per Tick Tick Length (sec) Resources Per sec 1 10 11 0.9 2 10 10 1.0 3 10 6 1.7 4 10 3 3.3 5 30 1 30.0 So if your team has three nodes, their team has two nodes, and they lead 1800 to 1700, you can still win if no nodes change hands. But if your team is at 1600 you cannot win unless you gain control of four nodes. =Other Strategic Elements= There are a few general strategic considerations for battles in Arathi Basin which can be used to flavor your preferred overall battle strategy. Start with a strategy If you join a raid group that has no strategy you can and should suggest one. Having some strategy is better than every man for himself. Be Vocal Not everyone has read this strategy guide, and some strategy and tactics are difficult to realize without being told. If you tell your raid "We should try to fight at the flags instead of leaving them vulnerable" you might improve your whole raid group's success rate. Graveyards Are Your Friends When you capture a node, the nearby graveyard becomes usable by your faction. Since you WILL die during the battle, having a foward graveyard to resurrect at will help immensely with flexibility of your forces. Occasionally, the node will change to contested soon after you die, and you will appear as a ghost at a graveyard that you cannot resurrect at! This sucks and there's nothing for it except to walk to a captured node's graveyard. The Blacksmith - Vital Node? Sitting right in the middle of the map with two chokepoints...er...bridges leading away from it, the Blacksmith is an important node to capture and hold. Having a central graveyard is very useful, as is having a staging point from which you can launch sorties to the Lumber Mill and Gold Mine. In most games the author has played, the Blacksmith and its bridges are the sites of the most furious battles. Alternately, by allowing the enemy to hold the Blacksmith, it is possible to keep them penned in. One strategy involves giving up the Blacksmith to the initial zerg, capping the outer ring of nodes, then leaving a few defenders and keeping the enemy confined to the Blacksmith. Go Where Your Enemy Isn't There is a limited number of people in AB at any one time, so always be aware of where the enemy is. If they zerg, say the blacksmith, with 7 or 8 people, they have only that number split between the other 4 nodes. Instead of wasting your forces fighting a superior force, consider letting them take the node and hitting elsewhere instead. Ideally everywhere else, often resulting in 4/1 flags in your favour. Stay for the minute Always stay for the minute until the node shifts to your side. Having a node undefended is a huge blow in a typical AB game. A stealthed character can simply tap the flag after you leave to undo all your hard work as enemies immediately start spawning there. A stealthed rogue can sap a lone defender left behind too, so don't think that just leaving one person is sufficient. Attack in groups Running into a defended node alone will surely get you killed. It is much more effective to wait at a crossroad for a small group to form. Attacking as a group will greatly improve your chances of capturing a node. Tell your raid that you want to form a group near your objective and attack at the same time in order to coordinate with other players. Stable/Farm Disease The flag closest to your teams starting area may seem to hold some special significance. It does not! The object of the game is to control more flags than the other team, not any particular one. If this flag is heavily defended by the other team, you are best served going elsewhere. Seeing the stable/farm as friendly territory that must be defended at the expense of all other flags is one of the surest and most common ways to lose AB. If you spawn at the top of the hill while your closest base is heavily guarded you have no choice but to escape to other areas. Try to get some of the enemy guards to chase you. Dying over and over again out of the gate is not helpful. The Two Crossroads On the horde side, the crossroads linking Farm, BS, and LM is an important staging area, allowing quick response to three vital nodes. On the alliance side, the crossroad leads to Stables, BS, and the Gold Mine, and provides an identical strategic location. In many rounds, this leaves the most intense fighting at the blacksmith, leaving the outer nodes to ninjas and smaller tactical groups. Featherweights A quick note to all mages in Arathi Basin. Bring Light Feathers! Seriously, Slow Fall is incredibly helpful to me in this battleground. If you're at the Blacksmith and the Gold Mine's being attacked, you can Slow Fall and jump down to help them, without going all the way round or losing any health. You can also, if you're at the Lumber Mill, cast Slow Fall, then mount up, and take a running jump off the cliff. Time it right and it's possible to end up a couple of meters away from the flag, or, if you don't trust your timing, aim for the ramp which will be on your left. It's a great trick, and can be great fun to use. It's especially good if you're specced for Presence of Mind and Pyroblast, as you can fire off a Pyroblast and a Fire Blast on your way down. See Also * Proud Aardvark's Arathi Basin Strategy Guide Category:Battleground:Arathi Basin